Just Pictures

Here are the beautiful subjects of my stories:
Nils, Annika and Marta.

"A Block or so Later..."

Have you ever let a 3 year old read to you? It really is a fascinating experience. Yesterday afternoon Annika decided she was going to read to me from the Bible. Well, it was her little pictorial kid version of the Bible. She turned to the first story, which I have read to her several times. She knew that the characters were Adam and Eve, and that they did not listen to God. So, she proceeded to tell me that they were sad because they had been naughty.

"They had to be in time out." There was a picture of Adam and Eve hiding from God with big bushy leaves wrapped around them. "So, they were in the green time out because they did not listen to God." Color coded time out- what a concept!

She read on, turning the pages slowly. There was the story of the big boat, and then there was a story about Isaac, though she called him Jesus. Of course, in a Bible story book, all the men look like Jesus!

"And Jesus was naughty. He did not listen." Ahhh! Heresy! I had to interrupt.

"No, Annika. Jesus was never naughty. He always obeyed. He always listened to God."

" Oh." No further comment. She just continued to read, " A block or so later......"

She used the "block or so later" phrase about a dozen times while she was reading. That particular phrase is in another favorite book called Knuffle Bunny by children's author, Mo Willems. She has no idea what she's talking about, but she likes the sound of the phrase so she uses it whenever she can while reading.

To say the least, it was a highly interesting storytime.

Alarms and Escalators


Today was a day of high adventure for Nils. One of his favorite things to do is to go to the store. We go to the grocery store fairly often- it is equivalent to a day at Great America for this 5 year old.
Well, today I decided to try something a little different- going to the store and not putting him in a shopping cart. We went to Old Time Pottery. I was looking for an inexpensive set of sheets. One item, not a cartful of things. Nils could hold my hand and everything would go smoothly. We walked into the store, and he was just fascinated by everything he saw. He started making comments.

"Oh, water, " as we passed a decorative fountain.
" We're going to get some sheets."
"Oh, look." Fuzzy pillows were pretty cool to see and feel.
" There are flowers on it." We were examining a variety of sheets, and I was trying to match a fitted sheet to a flat sheet. Nils was standing next to me talking about the sheets. He then decided to walk down the aisle behind us.

"Nils, where are you going?" I stood and looked at him. He gave me that special smile that usually means he knows he's doing something that he shouldn't do. He took off. He was around the corner very quickly. I decided to go straight to the next aisle to cut him off. I didn't see him. As I rounded a corner, I heard an alarm. Then I saw him, backing away from an emergency exit door. Of course there had to be a door there. I mean, after all, if there wasn't a door for Nils to try to open, how could it be called a fun place to shop? I grabbed his hand, and tried to be stern, but I ended up laughing. It was a classic Nils stunt! I went back to the sheets, and waited for the fire department to show up. After a few minutes, some store employee made his way back there and looked at us. No questions, no fire department, no evil looks.

We made our way to the cash register. "I pushed the door, " Nils informed the clerk.
All the way to the car- "I pushed the door."
"I know , Nils. You have to stay by Melody in the store. No running away from me."

O.k. So we went home, right? No. I decided to try another new thing. Why not be really brave and go to the mall?

The mall was way cooler than Old Time Pottery. There were so many fascinating things to see. A machine full of Care Bears. Another machine with movies in it. I let him push buttons, but there was no way I was going to put money in those machines. We went to the Food Court and ate french fries and drank pop. Amazingly, he sat at the table and didn't try to run everywhere. We made a big production of throwing things away in the very big trash can. Then we had to try the escalator. The stairs were going up! It was so cool! We saw the Aqua Massage machines spraying water, we went down the glass elevator, we went to the jewelry store and talked to my friend Tracy. Nils tried to open the door to go behind the jewelry counter- no alarms went off. We went to a picture booth. I let him press buttons in there, and we watched the machine sketch our picture. We rode one last time up and down the escalator, and then left.

What a morning! All the way home Nils was talking.

"We went down the stairs."
"We ate french fries."
" I threw it in the garbage."
"No running. Hold Melody's hand."
"We took a picture."

He obviously had a great time, and so did I. It really is amazing to me to watch him react to things. Small, simple things are so huge to him. Nils always fascinates me- the way his mind works, the things he says, the things he remembers. It is days like these that make me truly thankful that he is a part of my life. It's funny, well, maybe not funny....it's just the way God works, I guess. The more I try to help Nils and teach him things, the more he teaches me. And the goodness and sovereignty of God becomes even more evident.

SNOWY MEMORIES

Last night, after being quite snow deprived for the month of January, Rockford was blessed with a lovely blanket of the white stuff. I was delighted. I guess I'm a true Illinois native.

Yesterday, Nils celebrated his fifth birthday. One of his gifts was a new sled- of course, it had to be tried out today. The kids and mom and dad were having a great time in the snow until Mr. I'm Not Afraid Of Anything decided to try to take a swim in the icy Rock River. Much to his dismay, he didn't get very far before mommy grabbed him and took him in the house. So much for any more sled time today.

The sledding business reminded me of another snow adventure that actually took place one year ago this weekend. It was at a time when I was helping take care of a different little boy. It was the weekend before my little Zavier was to move across the country. We had just received a huge amount of snow, and it was bitterly cold. On that particular Saturday, Zavier's mommy had an appointment, so I had the privilege of going sledding with daddy and the kids.

Our first order of business was to buy a sled. No problem- Kmart here we come! We all tromped inside to find the desired piece of equipment...hmmm....sold out. That's o.k. becacause Walmart is right across the street! This time I stayed in the car with the kids. Daddy walked in and walked back out. No sleds at Walmart either. We were not to be highly discouraged. So what if everybody in town had the same idea after the big snowfall. That wasn't going to stop us. On to Hobbytown.....Big Lots....Menards....Discouragement was starting to set in. Jesse was starting to get frantic.

"Why doesn't anybody have sleds? We're not going to be able to sled. Why is this happening?"

Sophie took the cue from her brother.

"We're just going to have to go home."

Zavier, the youngest, from his carseat, was more concerned about himself than the actual sledding.

"My butt hurts."

There were many tears from the three of them by the time we pulled into the Target parking lot. This would be our last try. Again I waited in the car with the unhappy trio, trying to be positive.

"It's o.k., guys, if we can't sled, we can still play in the snow. We can build a snowman and have a snowball fight."

Nobody cared. Sledding would not happen. The carseat was uncomfortable. They had all been sitting back there for an hour and an half. Life was highly depressing.

And then it happened. Out of Target came daddy. And he had a bag in his hands. Was it possible? Did one store in this snow covered city have sleds for three distraught children?
Oh, the cries of happines that poured forth as we drove away from Target. Three sleds! Treasures beyond compare! Even if they were the weird kind that you have to roll out to sit on. No problem. We were going to sled!

But first we had to eat. I was starving. Daddy was starving. The kids weren't really starving, but they could wait a few more minutes. So, we had Beef -a-Roo and then went to the big hill.

We were bundled up. We had our sleds. Up the hill we began to trudge. And then the cold wind hit me. What were we doing? Who cared if the sun was shining? The wind was freezing! The wind chill had to be ridiculously low. Zavier began to cry. We were at the top of the hill. Daddy and Zavier climbed on a sled and headed down the hill. Jesse couldn't get the sled to stay unrolled so that he could get on- life was depressing again. I was trying to help Sophie unroll her sled. Daddy and Zavier were coming back up the hill. Zavier was crying louder.
Jesse hated his sled. Did Sophie make it down? I don't remember. Maybe once. Nobody went down more than once. I think Jesse only made it halfway. I walked down, trying to calm Zavier. He was so cold. We climbed into the car. Zavier was sobbing uncontrollably at this point. Jesse was crying, wondering why we had come sledding in the first place. Sophie was crying. I was not crying, but I was freezing. I couldn't feel my fingers. I think that was Zavier's problem, too- hence, lots of screaming. How do you explain that feeling or no feeling to a 3 year old?

After several hours we were taking Jesse and Sophie home. Then we had to pick up mommy from her spa appointment. Undoubtedly, she must have had a better day than we did. Zavier was much calmer. No more tears. He could feel his hands again. Life was so much better. His little voice piped up loud and clear,

"This was a great day."

A great day....well, I might use a different adjective.....crazy...bizarre....loud.....memorable.
I obviously didn't forget much of it after a year. Any thought of sledding makes me laugh. I don't know if I'll be trying out the birthday sled. I might just watch- and try to keep Nils out of the river.

Cereal for Dinner?

I was in the kitchen, conversing with Pat, who also works with Nils. Nils and Annika were both in the room with us and it was nearing dinner time. Nils went over to the counter and picked up a box of Peanut Butter Panda Puffs, a delightful gluten-free cereal. I'm not really sure who opened the cereal, but they mutually agreed that it was a good thing to eat at that particular moment.
Nils said, " I want some cereal."
O.k. He wanted some cereal. Cereal for dinner? Admittedly, I eat cereal for dinner sometimes, but it's not normal for Nils and Annika to do so. I told them that we would have dinner soon, but did not take the cereal away. I'm glad I didn't because what happened next was way too interesting.
As Annika snacked on the cereal directly from the bag, Nils held onto the box and proceeded to tell me what he needed.
" I need a spoon."
"Good job, Nils. That's right. You eat cereal with a spoon." I was happy to hear him request a spoon. We had recently had a discussion about forks and spoons and cereal in one of our work sessions. As I commented on this to Pat, Nils went over to the silverware drawer and produced a spoon. He came back to the table and set it down.
" I need a bowl."
Pat and I both looked at him and then looked at each other. We were thrilled that he was requesting these things. Requesting missing items, or as Skinner would say, "manding" for missing items, is something that we had decided to work on with him when we had our conference several weeks ago. He really is better at this than we realized.
Of course, Pat and I were having a great conversation about his manding. Nils did not care about our conversation. He still needed a bowl. He walked over to the kitchen counter and looked up at the cupboard that held the bowls and said again,
" I need a bowl."
I went and retrieved a bowl for the child, who promptly put it with the spoon on the table. He then climbed up into his chair, looked at the bowl and the spoon- I could see the gears turning in his head-then looked at me and proclaimed, with his hand in the air,
"I need some milk."
Ah, milk- the final component- I was just absolutely thrilled at what was taking place. And then the problem- milk. Nils cannot have regular milk, and in vain I searched for his special milk.
Annika had been adding bits and pieces to this conversation, while munching on the much desired Panda Puffs. I looked at the bag she held and saw that approximately 6 little puffs were in the bottom of it. I poured them into Nils' bowl and told him that the milk was all gone. I then proceeded to make him toast with peanut butter, which he highly approved of. We'll have cereal another time.